Wipro Technologies, the IT services arm of Indian technology titan Wipro Limited, has partnered with Microsoft to provide legal process outsourcing (LPO) for Microsoft’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Most interesting is what the partnership means for the relationship between two channel giants. Here’s the scoop.

Previously, Microsoft had used a mix of in-house and outside legal help to manage their IP, according to Wipro’s press release. Under the new agreement, the Business Process Outsourcing division of Wipro will handle all of that, enabling Microsoft to add international docketing filing to processes that were usually only concerned with the United States.

To enable the transfer from in-house to Wipro, Microsoft held domain training. Wipro correspondingly developed a framework to deliver LPO to Microsoft’s standards.

We knew Wipro and Microsoft were close and getting closer, with Wipro’s recent reiteration that Microsoft’s BPOS cloud productivity suite was a cornerstone of their cloud strategy, but I would never have guessed that they’d be providing them with legal services on this scale- though Wipro has apparently been providing patent and trademark filing services to Microsoft since 2008, according to the press release.

The VAR Guy will be watching the Microsoft-Wipro relationship closely as it develops, so keep an eye out.

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